She was pressed against the stable wall, her face pinched and white. A dark fur cloak hung over her shoulders, but when I saw the red sash down the middle of her ritual robe beneath, I felt the blood leave my body as violently as if I’d been gutted myself.
I pressed the dagger to her throat, hard enough to draw blood. “Take me to her now.”
Halla didn’t flinch from the prick of the blade tip. She held myeyes with such unnerving steadiness that it felt like a threat. She swallowed and finally said, “You’re a selfish bastard, Your Majesty.” She said it with relish, like she’d wanted to say those words to me for a long time.
They didn’t sting, “That’s right. I am.” I gave the blade a jolt and Halla’s eyes squeezed shut. “Where is she?”
“In the mountains,” she said, voice shaking. “With Aleka.”
“With—” My disbelief had me pressing the blade in harder than I’d meant to.
Halla cried out as a bead of blood ran down her neck. “I swear on Eusia. On my life.” She lifted her hands. “Aleka planned everything. She told me to go to the castle keep—she’s taken pity on me. She said she would finally take me to Eusia.”
Aleka.Her name rocked through me so forcefully I had to fight to keep the blade I held firm. Had to bite down on the impulse to assault Halla with questions, because in the end, if I lost Imogen, the answers would not truly matter.
She must have seen the way my fear was solidifying into rage, because her entire body began to tremble. “Please,” she whispered. “We’ll go together. To the mountains—to the keep. There’s a back road that will get us there quickly.”
My utter lack of trust in Halla for sense made me hesitant to lower my blade, but the longer I stood here, the nearer I came to losing Imogen. “Get me a horse,” I commanded.
Halla nodded. “The next stall. A good mare.”
Finally, I brought down my dagger. The moment I did Halla ducked quickly and raced to mount the mare herself.
“Fuck.” I rushed to the stall across, throwing myself atop a furious, bare-backed gelding, and watched as Halla raced from the stable, snowy hair blowing behind her as she charged out into the black night.
33
Imogen
I could only flutter the lids of my eyes.
Despite the way I tried to force movement into my limbs, I remained still, strewn over hard, warm stones. Pain, disorienting pressure. Through my bleary gaze, all I could make out was a single glowing orb of strange light, hanging above me like a mist-laden amber moon.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Breathed. Tried to clear the haze, to shake whatever poison had been forced into me. My heart was an angry drum in my ears, and I realized too slowly that my hearing was dampened. I could feel the wet air clinging to my bare skin. Could smell rotten seawater.
I organized what I knew in an attempt to keep my mind clear:You are inside, alone. Your clothes are gone. Your faculties are compromised.
With great effort, I forced my eyes open again and tried to look beyond that misty light, but all I could make out were walls made of wide, wooden slats.
An achy moan made its way up my throat as I tried to move my body again, as I tried to getup,but the attempt was futile.
The dull sound of scraping metal made me gasp.
“It’s only me.”
I knew that inflectionless, sage voice, even through my deadened hearing. “Aleka?” Another scrape of metal. I couldn’t move my head to follow the sound.
“Yes.” That metallic scraping came again.
My breathing ticked up. “Aleka… help. Help me.”
Scuffing footsteps, and the top of her silver-lined head of dark hair made its way into my line of sight. She stood directly above me, backlit by the orb light so I could not see her face, but I could see her robes.
Pale, fleshy pink. With a bright red sash running down the front of it, from her neck to her toes. In her hand—the one that wore a ring with Varya’s sigil on it—was a black, curved blade.
“I don’t… understand.” I gave a small whimper. “Why?”
“Thatis the question you ask me?Why?” She gave a light chuckle, feet shuffling once more. “But I expect you do deserve the why of it. And I am willing to give it, as all of this would be more palatable if you were truly able to understand.”
